Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Don't Make Her Angry

One of the fun parts of meeting people at conventions like Gen Con is doing personal commissions. I usually only take a small number and sometimes have to finish the art at home. Frequently, due to the nature of Gen Con (it's a gaming convention heavily focused on role playing games), artists are asked to draw pictures of people's characters. Receiving a description from an art enthusiast is much like receiving a description from an art director. The artist has to conjure up an image of the character that will satisfy both the artist's creative impulse and the customer's hopes of getting a cool drawing that captures the essence of their character.

For much of my published work, I'm frequently asked to do more wispy creatures and characters like faeries, and animals and dragons (all of which I love to do, don't get me wrong) so it was a refreshing break to do a tough half-orc warrior woman with big muscles. I usually try to draw interesting looking armor that appears practical and, of course, sticks to the description–gotta please the client! I like to avoid stuff like chain mail bikinis as much as humanly possible.